Leadership Workshops at GFOA's 119th Annual Conference

Finance officers are leaders and leadership requires unique skillsets and competencies. While GFOA's annual conference is an excellent opportunity to engage with subject matter experts and take in over seventy-five sessions related to accounting, budgeting, debt management, treasury, and technology, these workshops provide an opportunity for attendees to engage in focused leadership training. Each workshop is intended to be interactive to allow attendees an opportunity to engage in discussion, exercises, and opportunities for skill refinement.

Leading Change to Inspire, Engage, and Mobilize

Sunday, June 29 | 2:40-4:45 p.m. | 2.5 CPE | Room 152AB, Street Level
According to the Harvard Business Review, 70% of change initiatives fail due to a lack of effective leadership. This highly interactive and skills-based workshop is designed to help leaders overcome this challenge by focusing on leading change and not just managing it. Participants will engage in exercises and discussions to identify their strengths and roadblocks, enhancing their change agility. Finance leaders will learn how to inspire, engage, and mobilize to drive collective movement toward positive outcomes. Participants will acquire practical strategies and tools to effectively lead change within the organization. By the end of the workshop, participants will be equipped with the confidence and skills needed to successfully navigate and lead any change initiative.

Speakers:

• Dr. Maria Church

Capital Projects: Managing Risks for Sustainable and Resilient Outcomes

Monday, June 30 | 2:40-4:45 p.m. | 2.5 CPE | Room 152AB, Street Level
This session will explore the challenges of capital project performance and the root causes of challenges, including the biases and heuristics that derail planning and execution. It will highlight reference class forecasting as a tool to address these challenges. Using real-world examples, it will present methods for risk assessment and how to improve data-driven decision-making. Attendees will learn how economic, environmental, and social factors can be integrated into risk assessments, investment appraisals, and capital project management. Moreover, attendees will take away practical insights into using data to set
major capital projects up for success.

Speakers:

• Dr. Michala Techau

Governance and Fiscal Stability: Unraveling the Root of Municipal Distress

Tuesday, July 1 | 2:00-4:05 p.m. | 2.5 CPE | Room 152AB, Street Level
Governance issues are often at the heart of municipal financial distress, limiting resilience and compounding fiscal challenges. While financial mismanagement is typically seen as the root cause of municipal instability, in fact, weak governance structures, unclear decision-making processes, and misaligned financial policies are frequently the underlying vulnerabilities driving those problems. This interactive leadership workshop goes beyond theory to equip local government leaders with practical tools for diagnosing governance gaps, strengthening accountability, and aligning fiscal policies with strategic goals and community needs. The session features an expert-driven panel discussion followed by a tabletop group exercise, where participants will work through governance and fiscal challenges drawn from real-world examples. Participants will report their findings, with panelists providing expert reactions and guidance on improving institutional capacity, fiscal stewardship, and long-term financial stability.

Speakers:

• Robert C. Bobb
• Mayor Paige G. Cognetti
• Liz Farmer
• Mark Funkhouser